NME Vibes on (The Rest Of) New Order Remixes
RE-TOUCHED BY THE HANDS OF YOBS
VIBES
EDITED BY BEN WILLMOTT
"No, you don't understand. You are analogue, mate." HOWIE B has abandoned his quietly polite Scottish tones in favour of something a little less ambient."Nah I'm not," counters DAVE CLARKE, "I'm digital."
"Your brain," Howie continues, raising his normally hushed voice as he leans towards the unusually silent Clarke, "is operated by waves of energy. You, mate, are analogue."
Oh dear, we should've expected trouble. Take any three musicians and chances are, sooner or later they'll start fighting over the technical things in life, quoting equipment with names the length of Swiss bank accounts and generally befuddling the uninitiated.
But then our trio of musicians - Dave Clarke, international DJ, mastermind of the classic 'Red' series and motormouth supreme; the Bjork-producing, Mo'Waxing Howie B and JOHN SUGLER of chart denting, Underworld-predating techno popsters FLUKE - are just the kind of seasoned experts that enjoy squabbling like hyperintelligent ten-year-olds over such things.
Fortunately, fate hasn't brought us together to discuss such mindblowingly technical details - we're gathered around a plate of chips at Covent Garden's Rock Garden to chinwag about Howie, Dave and Fluke's reworkings of classic NEW ORDER tracks for the remix LP '(The Rest Of) New Order', out now on London.
Remix albums are everywhere, of course; everyone from Blondie to Nine Inch Nails has done one, with admittedly unpredictable results. '(The Rest Of)...', with Hardfloor, Perfecto, Shep Pettibone, Pump Panel, Armand Van Helden and K Klass also tweaking the remix knobs, is as hit-and-miss as any, but at least a New Order remix album makes logical sense.
Barny and co's outpourings throughout the '80s were the first exposure to dance music for today's generation of musicians, many of whom took their accessible innovation as a starting point for a journey deep into electronic culture. Richie Hawtin (who remixed 'Blue Monday') remembers his Dad playing him New Order - ask any techno type where they first heard 'Blue Monday' or 'Confusion' and they'll be able to tell you without hesitation.
"I used to sit and sing along like mad to their stuff when I was tripping," says Howie B, who remixed 'Age Of Consent' after discovering 'Transmission' - the track he wanted to mix - wasn't actually a New Order track (it's Joy Division). "It used to send me off somewhere else; you'd hear it mixed up with Rolling Stones and all sorts of stuff. That's why I knew all the words to 'Age Of Consent'."
"I haven't bought every record they've done," admits Clarke who did 'Everything's Gone Green', "because it wasn't 'Blue Monday' - I probably know more about Leonard Cohen and Iggy Pop than New Order. But they've always had a great sort of feel to them. It was the technology, for me anyway. They were indie, but they realised they didn't have to just use guitars, they could use a drum machine and still make it sound punky with a bit of attitude.
"Obviously 'Blue Monday' was important, quite electro for the time. I remember trying to program my first drum machine to do that and I remember breakdancing to 'Blue Monday'," he finally confesses.
"Were you any good?" Sugler demands.
"I was good at popping but no good at spinning."
"When I heard 'Blue Monday' I was into harsher electronic stuff," Sugler continues, "but they had a proper moodiness about them. I was aware of them from 'Ceremony' (their first single) onwards, but their stuff seems to take longer and longer to get into these days. Still, I can't believe how they managed to stay so cool for so long."
"It's because they don't do interviews!" Clarke jokes, but all agree the fab foursome lost the spark of inspiration somewhere between the 'Run' single in the early '90s and the present day.
"Everyone's got the technology to do it now," reckons Clarke, "back then it was so expensive. Technology's caught up with them."
"Yeah, they were wicked about ten years ago" mutters Howie under his breath.
It soon emerges that Fluke's Sugler's the real fan - he's seen them live a handful of times and has all the records - and, was given the later track 'Spooky' to rework. "I didn't have a choice," he half grumbles, adding quickly "but it was a privilege to be asked."
Clarke's original mix, it also transpires, was rejected by Bernard Sumner - putting paid to rumours of their zero involvement in the project - because his vocals were 'too upfront'. 'That's why the vocals are backwards - he asked me to do an instrumental but there were gaps in the mix so I did a backwards one too and sent it off, and that's the one that ended up on the album!"
"What did he make of yours then?" John asks of Howie, "because that's the most upfront I've ever heard his voice."
"I dunno," Howie slurs, "But I thought his voice sounded wicked on that track. In the studio I kept getting flashbacks to my tripping days and it's all because of that vocal."
"When I heard 'Blue Monday' I was into harsher electronic stuff," Sugler continues, "but they had a proper moodiness about them. I was aware of them from 'Ceremony' (their first single) onwards, but their stuff seems to take longer and longer to get into these days. Still, I can't believe how they managed to stay so cool for so long."
"It's because they don't do interviews!" Clarke jokes, but all agree the fab foursome lost the spark of inspiration somewhere between the 'Run' single in the early '90s and the present day.
"Everyone's got the technology to do it now," reckons Clarke, "back then it was so expensive. Technology's caught up with them."
"Yeah, they were wicked about ten years ago" mutters Howie under his breath.
It soon emerges that Fluke's Sugler's the real fan - he's seen them live a handful of times and has all the records - and, was given the later track 'Spooky' to rework. "I didn't have a choice," he half grumbles, adding quickly "but it was a privilege to be asked."
Clarke's original mix, it also transpires, was rejected by Bernard Sumner - putting paid to rumours of their zero involvement in the project - because his vocals were 'too upfront'. 'That's why the vocals are backwards - he asked me to do an instrumental but there were gaps in the mix so I did a backwards one too and sent it off, and that's the one that ended up on the album!"
"What did he make of yours then?" John asks of Howie, "because that's the most upfront I've ever heard his voice."
"I dunno," Howie slurs, "But I thought his voice sounded wicked on that track. In the studio I kept getting flashbacks to my tripping days and it's all because of that vocal."
So with London Records threatening to give fellow Factorians Happy Mondays the remix treatment, who would our chosen three really like to remix?
Sugler seems content to have done New Order, while Howie goes back to Plan A - 'Transmission' by the "kicking" Joy Division. And Dave Clarke?
"I was going to do the Mondays one," he volunteers, "but I saw a picture of Shaun Ryder in this magazine with his penis hanging out and I didn't want to do it after that! I'd do Leonard Cohen; distort the f— out of his voice. Or The Damned."
Uh oh, back to the equipment lists chaps. Run!
Ben Willmott
========================================
Comments
Post a Comment